Said Fetterman campaign strategist Rebecca Katz, quoted "Fetterman campaign says stroke recovery factors into fall debate plans/Advisers say the Pennsylvania Democrat can engage in one-on-one conversations but struggles with more chaotic auditory environments" (Washington Post).
Since returning to in-person events, Fetterman’s speeches have been limited to about 10 minutes and are sometimes halting. He has mostly avoided public interactions with reporters and voters...
“Can you even imagine that if you had a doctor that was mocking your illness or ridiculing that?” Fetterman said in Mercer County....
See the embed below for the video. But was Oz mocking/ridiculing his illness? Actually, no:
Oz has avoided engaging in the attacks himself, and on Tuesday he distanced himself from his own campaign for mocking Fetterman for not eating enough vegetables before his stroke.
Oz needs better staff. But can Fetterman lie low and coast into the election? I'd say yes. It wouldn't be that different from the way Biden conducted himself in the 2020 election (and, frankly, in the presidency).
Biden did debate though, but with Biden, it has been a worry that he's in hopeless mental decline. We like to think that stroke victims like Fetterman will heal. In any case, Fetterman isn't running for President. When voting in a Senate race, aren't we mostly thinking about which party we want in the majority? No one's going to switch to Oz because they want somebody sharper.
I survived a stroke. Plenty of others have dealt with health challenges too.
— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) August 31, 2022
Can you imagine if you had a doctor who mocked you for it? pic.twitter.com/T9bGRgtigH
Posts
85 comments:
A lot of what makes a good senator or two is retail politics, which requires getting out and meeting people, having discussions, working the phones to solve constituent problems, etc. If fetterman is incapable of doing that, then he won't be a good senator.
When voting in a Senate race, aren't we mostly thinking about which party we want in the majority?
Well, this post tells us which party you want in the majority. After listening to Joe Biden’s recent rhetoric I’d rather Republicans were introducing him to the concept of checks and balances.
It cannot be correct that NOBODY would switch their vote based on which candidate is perceived to be sharper. Not everyone who votes in a Senate race is looking at it solely from a national, partisan standpoint. In fact, if it were all about D versus R, I would think Fettermen would lose pretty handily.
When does Fetterman pivot and go on the offensive against Oz and all of the bigoted haters who are guilty of ableism? Just because Fetterman is unable to make sense of what he hears (isn’t that what “auditory processing” means?) doesn’t mean he won’t do a perfectly fine job warming a chair in the Senate and voting as he’s told to do.
C’mon man!
" If fetterman is incapable of doing that, then he won't be a good senator."
He doesn't have to be a good Senator. He'll still be a vote for the Democrats, and his victory would exclude what would have been a vote for the Republicans. That's decisive.
Of course, if you want Republicans in the majority, you'll launch attacks based on his (presumed) low capacity, but you're doing that because you want the Republicans in the majority, not because you want capable Senators.
I mean, look at the Senate. There are 100 of those characters. Do they stand out as giants among men? It's hard even to name 3 who seem like especially capable humans.
For the record, I loathe both parties.
I also loathe all the bullshit.
Ann Althouse said...
For the record, I loathe both parties.
I also loathe all the bullshit.
Then why are you constantly promoting one party over the other?
I'd be voting for that freak Oz, chia seeds and all, if I lived in the state, but he needs to fire campaign staffers who are mocking the other guy's medical tragedy.
It's stupid and immoral, even for campaign consultants. All Fetterman needs to do is show a montage of politicians who have endured -- FDR, Reagan striding out after being shot, JFK's crippling diseases, Dan Crenshaw, Max Cleland, Tammy Duckworth, Sonia Sotomayor...
When was the last time you voted FOR someone?
We try to protect ourselves from these parties, but they just won't let us go. Nobody is coming to save us from them. Lots of people will be dead when this wave of madness is over, but the media will still be telling us not to notice the mountain of skulls.
They will succeed in this. Hard to be hopeful. Hard to get up and face the next day, but we do. Oh well...
Fetterman wants to empty the prisons. He is a mealy mouthed progressive who hates America and the law abiding who are sick and tired of the Progressive Criminal machine running this country into the ground.
"Then why are you constantly promoting one party over the other?"
Which one is that?
Oz needs better staff.
At what point does Oz have to take responsibility for his own campaign?
“Today’s statement from Dr. Oz’s team made it abundantly clear that they think it is funny to mock a stroke survivor. I chose not to participate in this farce. Any sense that these “challenges” were done in good faith is damaged.
In response, a statement from Oz’s communications Director posted on Oz’s Twitter said “John Fetterman is a liar, a liberal, and a coward.” Rachel Tripp, Oz’s senior communications adviser, previously said “if John Fetterman had ever eaten a vegetable in his life, then maybe he wouldn’t have had a major stroke.” Oz’s campaign has also made “offers” for Fetterman to wear an earpiece during debates for staff to feed him answers, bathroom breaks, and to pay for medical personnel. - WKOK news radio
Why not proclaim how historically wonderful it would be to elect the first US Senator who is a white male stroke victim?
if John Fetterman had ever eaten a vegetable in his life, then maybe he wouldn’t have had a major stroke.
Vote for the guy with balls.
That's not mocking the guy but refusing his sympathy play and suggesting that you do too.
If Dr. Oz saves a couple more lives during the campaign, this might mean either:
1. We need this miracle worker in office; or
2. We're all better off if he sticks to medicine.
What if Oz saves F's life during a debate?
6'8" shaved head dude in a hoodie who chases black people with a shotgun cries "quit picking on me!!!".
Keep after him, Oz.
He doesn't have to be a good Senator. He'll still be a vote for the Democrats, and his victory would exclude what would have been a vote for the Republicans. That's decisive.
I doubt it. "He'll vote for the democrat" is the kind of thing that might appeal to the base, but I don't think it will help him with moderates and independents. "I'll vote however Chuck Schumer tells me to vote" isn't a winning campaign slogan.
Is it bullshit to encourage people to have the class to put country over ego, and stand down when they know they’re not equipped to do the job? Did justices Ginsberg and Douglas need to hold on to the bitter end? Couldn’t Fetterman say he caught a bad break, and can’t run based on the hope that he will someday be fit for the job? (If he does get better, he can run next time.)
Senator Feinstein should retire, too, and maybe others (Grassley? Leahy? Pelosi?)
The real bullshit is “My country needs me because ‘This is the Most Important Election of our lifetimes’ and we face an ‘Existential Threat’”.
I thought Senators participated in lengthy high-minded debates in the World’s Greatest Deliberative Body.
Fetterman is not capable. He should not be running.
@Althouse: "We like to think that stroke victims like Fetterman will heal."
We do, but strokes involve broken blood vessels that flood portions of the brain. This kills the normal brain cells. Kills. Gone. Zapped. Holes are left in the brain.
Some portion of the damage is permanent and I'd bet he's going to be about the same for the rest of his life. That is, unless he has another stroke or unless the surrounding brain matter continues to slowly die and makes his condition worse.
Does this affect the election? Probably not, considering that Democratic Party voters continue to support the intellectually challenged Joe Biden, Sheldon Whitehouse, Maize Hirono, and Hank Johnson.
He's just an awful human being. A bad character. Not that he'd be the first in DC, certainly he'd be at home among the locusts up there. But he is a particularly nasty aggressive liar, a spoiled kid who has had a life where people around him clean up his crap. And now the Democratic Party continues to do so.
This is yet another example of a Democrat not needing to actually promote better ideas, or even represent the party that is moving the country in a better way. Have you looked at life in Philadelphia lately? But the Democrats own the media. And they are far better at marketing than the Republicans who seem to continue to think that all you have to do is wear a blue blazer and smile and people will 'get it'. The Dems have spent years claiming people on the right are Nazis, want to put women in burkas, keep Black people down, won't allow your kids to select their own pronouns or have gender affirming surgery, and are all about taxing the poor in favor of the rich- well...that marketing works surprisingly well- even here in 2022. You would think Americans would be smarter by now, but actually, we're stupider. Many of us actually think life-altering gender surgery for kids is an AOK thing.
Oz must be the among the worst of all campaigners to not be able to blow away this punk. Every one of us will feel the impact of this Senate seat switching if Fetterman wins. He is a nightmare. If you love the crime on your streets, get ready for much more. If you think hyperbole is old sport, you'll see a new level of it coming at you.
Rush Limbaugh continually used the phrase "mind numbed robots". In this case, it would apply directly to Uncle Festerman. The guy can't think on his feet, his mind blanks out in the middle of a sentence. Never mind though, 95% of the Commie-Pinko party will vote for him. In Philly, Pittsburgh, Erie and State College, they will vote for him more than once. Mail in ballots, endorsed by fellow Commie, Gov Tom Wolf will do the trick once again.
He will not debate the Wizard of Oz. Never. His positions of legalizing heroin, emptying the prisons, shutting down fracking would be indefensible in a debate. He would be not capable of defending them.
After Biden’s campaign of hiding in his bunker designed to not show the American people his declining mental state, I have no issue with anything Oz or his campaign said about Fetterman.
After being called a Nazi and Fascist I have no issue with anyone saying anything nasty about any Democrat..
The truly stunning statement is that Fettermans campaign thinks it’s ok for a potential Senator to having serious auditory and mental issue and that we are just supposed to accept that.
Nothing to see here. Just move along.
My first thought was there’s some campaign strategist copying the Biden/brain dead model. Now I think it’s just a coincidence but it does prove you don’t have to fear running the ham sandwich candidate.
"I mean, look at the Senate. There are 100 of those characters. Do they stand out as giants among men? It's hard even to name 3 who seem like especially capable humans."
I might be able to count up to 5. But I'd have to work at it. Your language sounds so similar to mine and others who comment here. And my wife's. We all come from different ends of the spectrum and we all hold the same level of disgust for the lot of them.
You would think we could find a way to oust the beggars and establish some sort of optional party. But it takes a massive movement. And previous recent tries at grassroots movements ended up being quickly characterized by our mainstream media as Nazis, etc. The Tea Party initially was a grouping of people of all races and incomes gathered in a common cause based on individual and economic freedom, yet was played out as White Supremacist Nazis. Trump is not a man of great character, but he was the first of any politician in many generations to stand up to the Business as Usual crowd. And you can see what they've done to him.
My disgust grows daily and occasionally turns into rage that makes me have to turn away from it all. Thank God football season is here.
US Senator Roman Hruska (March 1970): "Even if he [Carswell] were mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they? We can't have all Brandeises and Frankfurters and Cardozos.
Democrats today: "Even the brain damaged need representation. Quick picking on him, you fascist."
Should Festerman win the senate seat, I suggest Chuck Schumer (D-Hochuland) appoint him to the Senate Intelligence Committee, replacing the perpetually bewildered Diane Feinstein. The committee wouldn't miss a beat.
Ann Althouse said...
"Then why are you constantly promoting one party over the other?"
Which one is that?
Gee, the party you always vote for, the Democrats. Even a casual reader of this blog can see that.
I mean, look at the Senate. There are 100 of those characters. Do they stand out as giants among men? It's hard even to name 3 who seem like especially capable humans.
Part of the problem is you don't really prioritize capable. It's lip service.
We had the world's worst businessman and bit of a kook but he made improving American's lives look too easy, but he was destroying the global political machine so many losers depend upon for their very lucrative livelihoods. Given that context and the fact you found that all 'too weird' there is no incentive for normal, capable people to run. Fuck it...
I will be voting for Herschel Walker strictly because I believe a Democrat controlled Senate is a threat to the Republic.
I do wish Trump had stayed away from a race since any other Republican would be running away with the race.
I do take comfort in the fact that, if elected to an institution populated by Masie Horono and Ed “Mr. Frosty” Markey, Senator Walker will not be the dumbest Senator.
Well, to be fair, he is, unlike all those other Senators, a giant among men.
Did you do that on purpose?
Fetterman should put his big boy pants on and show what he’s got. Stop playing the victim.
When life leaves you resembling Zippy the Pinhead, you make lemonade.
Ann Althouse said...
[" If fetterman is incapable of doing that, then he won't be a good senator."]
"He doesn't have to be a good Senator. He'll still be a vote for the Democrats, and his victory would exclude what would have been a vote for the Republicans. That's decisive."
As would be a Republican majority in the Senate, which is what is needed right now to put the stops to the madness of the people who have co-opted the Democratic Party.
I'll say this again - what is it with the undemocratic behavior of DNC leadership that makes them stick with candidates who are marginally capable of conducting a campaign? I think Mr. Fetterman should at least have had the good sense to bow out of the race and give another candidate a chance to run.
I have known people personally who have recovered from a stroke and while the progress in medical science is amazing, recovery is a long process and you never get all the way back to where you were.
I want to share this glimpse of the future of United States Congress. The pictures and video are of Boston City Government. The Xs and Os aren't necessarily important but the mechanisms for how Boston got here are the same corrupt mechanisms in place at the Congressional level. You might believe your part of the country is too sophisticated to let this happen but I warn you this will be arriving in a few short months...
Coming soon to a US Congress near you...
AMDG said...
"I do wish Trump had stayed away from a race since any other Republican would be running away with the race."
I still wonder about crossover voting in the primaries, and the impact of mail-in voting. The other (R) candidate wanted to count the disallowed mail-in votes; the RNC wisely disputed it, and in any case, the Commonwealth's voting commission refused the request and followed the law. But it would be easy for a contingent of registered Democrats to switch parties before the primary, vote for a straw candidate, then switch back at a later date when their (R) votes are no longer needed. That, or they could keep their party registration and vote (D) in the general election. "Look how many Repubs voted for Fetterman!" The newsies would be thrilled to share that report, I'm sure.
"Gee, the party you always vote for, the Democrats. Even a casual reader of this blog can see that."
You're projecting. Bring in a Democrat and ask the same question, and they'd answer Republican.
You don't even have the facts right. Check the 18-year history of this blog and you'll find many examples of my declining to vote for Democrats.
Gee, your answer is so dumb it doesn't deserve this attention, but, come on, get some self-awareness. Your display of disrespect toward me and your ignorance of the facts that are written in the archive make you look awful. Casual reader, indeed. AKA, careless reader. You're showing something about yourself, and it's embarrassing.
Fetterman has 15104 tattooed in 2 inch block numbers on his forearm. The number happens to be the zip code of his hometown of Braddock. Makes sense. If he is aimlessly walking the streets of DC, the authorities will know where to send him.
^^^ Utilizing Alinsky Rule #5: "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon .... "
Given most of the Senate is populated with corrupt stuttering geriatrics, Fetterman is easily fit as a fiddle for the job.
They're both awful.
In Pennsylvania the Democrat will always win the dead vote. To dead voters, Fetterman's (and Biden's) problems don't seem all that bad.
"sometimes halting"
That's one way to put it. Borderline incoherent. Joe territory.
“Can you even imagine that if you had a doctor that was mocking your illness or ridiculing that?”
Does a Dem ever not lie?
"Oz needs better staff"
Oz needs to not be Oz. Thanks, DJT.
"No one's going to switch to Oz because they want somebody sharper."
Not sure about that. Nice women sometimes seem to focus on the person rather than the party. For example, some claim to loathe both parties. In which case, personality becomes a relatively bigger factor in choosing.
"I loathe both parties."
You don't owe us an explanation, of course, but I'm curious: why exactly do you loathe the GOP? Abortion, OK. Anything else? How does GOP loathsomeness compare to Joe, Chuck and Nancy's misdeeds of the last two years? Do you even consider them misdeeds?
There are, arguably, a different category into which you could put every voter, but you could probably categorize voters into three bins:
Partisan Republican: It's good to vote for any Republican because they are more likely to vote according to the wishes of the party in general.
Partisan Democrat: It's good to vote for any Democrat because they are more likely to vote according to the wishes of the party in general.
Swing voters: They are enough to swing an election in a purple state and they vote for the person who seems the most capable. If the Senate is lopsidedly partisan, they might be motivated to vote for whichever candidate would make the Senate more evenly divided.
I absolutely hate that Fetterman can post mean memes on twitter, not debate, not get hard treatment from the press, and he'll probably win. Maybe he actually is a better candidate than Oz. That's not why he's winning, though. He's winning through sleaze.
I don't understand this country anymore. It's possible that social media has destroyed us.
Fetterman cannot debate but he is OK to be a Senator?
Got that everyone....
Don't you dare mock the poor skinhead Antifa Punk in a Hoodie. How dare you!
Just place the antifa skinhead in the Senate. you don't need to see him debate.
Just place him there - like you did Old drooling Joe.
"He doesn't have to be a good Senator. He'll still be a vote for the Democrats, and his victory would exclude what would have been a vote for the Republicans. That's decisive."
This is the problem with one issue voters.
Not a lot of clear thinking going into these voting decisions.
What Ann is advocating for here is the election of a bunch of sock puppets. We don't need any actual leaders in the senate or and talent. We just need any old party apparatchik we can get.
No need to assess moral character. No need to trust. No need to see if they will represent the state well.
Just put in any schlub that will allow us to abort 9 month old babies and sell the chopped up baby parts is what this sounds like.
Remember- Republicans can be mocked - mercilessly - endlessly - even over lies made up about them.
Democrats - you cannot mock the poor poor sad ill democrats. Just be loyal and vote skinhead.
The stroke he had is a good thing! He's totally fine, man.
Why Shouldn't the democrats run a stroke victim for Senator?
They've already got a brain damaged idiot in the white house, and they LITERALLY had a reanimated corpse on the supreme court (to say Nothing of their wide latina).
The ONLY thing a democrat has to do, is: Vote the Party Line. Stroke victims can do that
Vote Democrat! The Party of the Brain Damaged, and the Graveyard!
I mean, look at the Senate. There are 100 of those characters. Do they stand out as giants among men? It's hard even to name 3 who seem like especially capable humans.
Well, there is Rand Paul and ..., uh ..., uh ..., uh ...
OK. I give up.
I can't decide who is worse, Fetterman or Mandela Barnes from WI who is running against Ron Johnson.
This is the crap insanity liberals want running our "democracy".
"We are working to figure out what a fair debate would look like, one where the voters won't notice that the Democrat's head is full of tapioca pudding. Because Democrats must win, bigot. Bigot! I'll kill you, you racist, transphobic bigot...!"
Fixed.
When people voted for then Independent Bernie Sanders, they were declining to vote Democrat.
Ann Althouse said...He doesn't have to be a good Senator. He'll still be a vote for the Democrats, and his victory would exclude what would have been a vote for the Republicans. That's decisive.
I think Conrad, a few comments up, has it right. Most voters will vote for the party rather than the candidate, but those people are roughly equally divided between the parties, cancelling each other out. The election is decided by the relatively small number of independents who have no particular allegiance to a party.
So while you are right on raw numbers, you are not right on effect on the outcome.
If I was a pennsylvania voter I'd wonder if Fetterman's condition would ever improve or even get worse. Then calculate if the Governor will appoint a democrat or a republican if he bows out due to health. You would think voters would be afraid after having a cognitively impaired president stumble around, shake hands with air and have to be hidden away 90% of the time.
If Fetterman can't handle the noise of a debate imagine how effective he will be as a Senator?
One of the things people always forget is that Hillary has a stroke herself back in 2013(yr?)
The media was careful not to call it a stroke, always calling it a veinous thrombosis.
But if you look that up in a medical dictionary it says "commonly call a stroke"
She still wears special gridded glasses that help cope with the effects.
Brandon has twice had his skull opened and he himself has said he's ne er bee the same since. I don't remember if he had strokes, though.
John Henry "stop fascism, vote republican" Henry
"Republican" is a dirty word for a lot of people, and in Pennsylvania so is "Out of stater".
I know it's wrong and cruel, but my first thought is that at a debate Fetterman would shout "Fire bad!" and Oz would be asked to respond.
"...declining to vote for Democrats"
I'll take "phrasings educated people use when the other less-well-educated person *kinda* has a point" for $400, Alex.
Oz needs to find a Festerman look-a-like, debate him, and then run them as commercials. Make them hilarious. Have Festerman show up in the debate with a shotgun. Then have him chase a minority kid across the stage. Have a table with free heroin beside the bald one. No holds barred. Don't be Romney.
Oz, quit being a wuss. Tell it like it is and force this politician out into the fresh air. Good grief, have republicans learned nothing about how to compete politically.
I don't understand this country anymore. It's possible that social media has destroyed us.
Don't be so hard on social media. The facts and fundamentals strongly suggest it's cheating...
I, for one, look forward to Senator Fetterman from Pennsylvania, and the exciting agenda that will be developed, proposed, and pushed into law by his Chief of Staff. Hey, it's working just fine for our President. Why not try it at for a Senator?
"To be absolutely clear, the occasional issues he is having with auditory processing have no bearing on his ability to do the job as senator.
They just lie to our faces. Next they will make him POTUS because he will be so easily manipulated.
Schumer will be more than happy to help him do his job.
Own it, Fetterman!
Now everybody, have you heard, if you're in PA
Then the stroke's the word
Don't take no debates,
Don't show no style
Leave the fancy suit,
In a pile, uh
Put your right hand out, give a firm handshake
Talk to me about that slice o’ cake
Work on the elocution, don’t try to hide
Keep those contributions by your side and
Stroke me, stroke me
Could be a winner boy, you up against Oz
Stroke me, stroke me (stroke)
Stroke me, stroke me
You left your zipper down
Stroke me, stroke me
Say you're a winner but babe, you're Sunday dinner now
WaPoo acknowledge the worst case scenario: Fetterman requires second party care, is a practical "burden", is not "viable" in the modern model. The violence intoned by this hit piece is overwhelming. Is he a fetus or a baby? Time will tell.
Fetterman is Pennsylvania's answer to Beto O'Rourke.
After Biden, I assume some people have a fetish for bumbling, and incompetence.
If you're explaining then you have a problem.
He should run for president instead...it would me an upgrade.
'For the record, I loathe both parties.'
Welcome to the party, pal.
Yippee ki-yay...
Ann Althouse said...
"Gee, the party you always vote for, the Democrats. Even a casual reader of this blog can see that."
You're projecting. Bring in a Democrat and ask the same question, and they'd answer Republican.
You don't even have the facts right. Check the 18-year history of this blog and you'll find many examples of my declining to vote for Democrats.
Gee, your answer is so dumb it doesn't deserve this attention, but, come on, get some self-awareness. Your display of disrespect toward me and your ignorance of the facts that are written in the archive make you look awful. Casual reader, indeed. AKA, careless reader. You're showing something about yourself, and it's embarrassing.
The fact you felt the need to attack and ridicule me is answer enough.
I suppose if you think that each elected official should be an unthinking automaton that does what he or she is told, then, sure, Fetterman is as good as anyone. As would a potted plant, though that probably violates the Constitution.
However, that would indicate that Fetterman would not actually represent the people of Pennsylvania in any meaningful way. Our elected representatives represent the state or district they are from, lobbying for their needs and wants, not the national political party. If we have degenerated into the latter, then we are heading towards one party rule with Congress merely a rubber stamp for the party leader. The country will not survive that.
Jack Posobiec tweeted, "Fetterman's brain damage has gotten so bad the Democrats are worried the only thing left they can do is nominate him for president."
Biden did debate though, but with Biden, it has been a worry that he's in hopeless mental decline. We like to think that stroke victims like Fetterman will heal.
"We like to think" is entirely different from "we know."
No, we do NOT know that Fetterman will completely recover, either physically or mentally, from his stroke.
What we can be pretty sure of is that he won't be ready to do the job on day 1. Esp. if he's not able to handle a 1 or 2 hour debate with a single opponent
In any case, Fetterman isn't running for President. When voting in a Senate race, aren't we mostly thinking about which party we want in the majority? No one's going to switch to Oz because they want somebody sharper.
You are entirely wrong in that.
In every State that's not a one Party State, the election is decided by people who vote for the candidate, not the Party
PA, WI, MI, maybe MN are all such States
When Trump won those 1st 3 States in 2016, the GOP Senate candidates also all won. But the candidates won with different voters. The people who put Trump "over the top" in each of those States also voted for a Dem Senator. and the people who put the GOP Senators "over the top" also voted for Hillary.
But enough people voted for both to get them close enough to a win so that the others could put them over the top.
Fetterman is going to lose. he's going to lose because once voters start paying attention, they're going to discover that Fetterman is not capable of representing them and their State in the US Senate.
And that will cost Fetterman enough votes that Oz will win
They could do a Democrat-style debate, where he gets all the questions in advance. Maybe they could allow someone else to answer them for him, too. "Cuz of his "Biden issues". I guess you have to be brain-dead to be a successful Democrat politician these days. Any counter-examples?
I am not certain Dr. Oz will satisfy anyone but GOP insiders, but he's a real political outsider and probably less insane than Fetterman, a trust fund baby with a record of typical leftist "actions" paid for by his father that have done nothing demonstrably good for any community he touches (as he rakes in quite a pile of money with all his "nonprofits," the oldest democrat racket in the book). With his childish appearance, nonprofit racketeering, and exaggerated claims of doing community service, he's like some sloppy doppelganger of Mayor Pete.
I used to watch Oprah back in the day, when Bezos and Oz were both starting out, and I have to admit they were both such weirdos that I'm amazed they are where they are now. I am even entirely willing to believe Oz decided to run against Fetterman solely because he grew obsessed with the latter's dangerously poor health and hygiene choices. Oz is that weird and diet-obsessed. If he wants to disrupt the Senate as much as Trump did the White House -- and can because he has tv celebrity -- maybe it's celebrity that can break us free from the Party system we are stuck in. Oz might not be the right celebrity (I'm rooting more for Herschel Walker), but oddball celebrities depend more on us than the current political Parties do.
A National Enquirer Party might just give us some traction to tackle the Party behemoth.
“ I'll take "phrasings educated people use when the other less-well-educated person *kinda* has a point" for $400, Alex.”
I acknowledge the reason for your suspicion, but the archive will show that I have voted for Republicans, including 2 presidential candidates since beginning this project in 2004.
I phrased it that way because I didn’t vote in 2020, so I declined to vote for Biden ( and Trump).
In the time of this blog I’ve voted for Republican Senators and Governors more than Democrats. I’m a moderate.
Leland said...
When people voted for then Independent Bernie Sanders,
Bernie is still officially independent.
Except for a couple of months in 2016 he has never been a member of the Democrat Party. Including 2020 when he was running as a Democrat.
John stop fascism, vote republican Henry
Is Oz still a Turkish citizen?
He is American, born in USA but also Turkish. He has said he will renounce his Turkish citizenship but I don't think he has yet. I could be wrong
John stop fascism vote republican Henry
In a way, this small Pennsylvania campaign bears many similarities to the 2020 Presidential campaign. The Democratic candidate is pretty clearly struggling to make himself understood because of substantive mental issues. He has a dubious political record and baggage with his personal history. The Republican candidate is a known public figure but flawed, and a fair portion of his Republican base aren't really happy with him as the candidate.
And of course, the media is hostile, and therefore paints the Republican as a 'bully' if at all possible, which in this case, is a difficult one to swallow. You'll notice, there have been no side-by-side comparative photos showing Fetterman's enormous size advantage over Oz's slender frame.
Fetterman looks like an ogre but he'll vote as he's instructed to vote by the party, because he's a political runt. Hard to imagine a Pennsylvania voter preferring this. Fetterman won't be able to bring them anything but scraps. He has zero 'influence' cred.
Wendybar @9:45am… when yer right you are right!
He is a Democrat. Being mentally challenged is not a bug, it's a feature. Look at the President. In fact, look at their rank and file.
Biden did debate though, but with Biden, it has been a worry that he's in hopeless mental decline. We like to think that stroke victims like Fetterman will heal.
"We like to think" is entirely different from "we know."
No, we do NOT know that Fetterman will completely recover, either physically or mentally, from his stroke.
What we can be pretty sure of is that he won't be ready to do the job on day 1. Esp. if he's not able to handle a 1 or 2 hour debate with a single opponent
In any case, Fetterman isn't running for President. When voting in a Senate race, aren't we mostly thinking about which party we want in the majority? No one's going to switch to Oz because they want somebody sharper.
You are entirely wrong in that.
In every State that's not a one Party State, the election is decided by people who vote for the candidate, not the Party
PA, WI, MI, maybe MN are all such States
When Trump won those 1st 3 States in 2016, the GOP Senate candidates also all won. But the candidates won with different voters. The people who put Trump "over the top" in each of those States also voted for a Dem Senator. and the people who put the GOP Senators "over the top" also voted for Hillary.
But enough people voted for both to get them close enough to a win so that the others could put them over the top.
Fetterman is going to lose. he's going to lose because once voters start paying attention, they're going to discover that Fetterman is not capable of representing them and their State in the US Senate.
And that will cost Fetterman enough votes that Oz will win
Enigma said...
@Althouse: "We like to think that stroke victims like Fetterman will heal."
We do, but strokes involve broken blood vessels that flood portions of the brain. This kills the normal brain cells. Kills. Gone. Zapped. Holes are left in the brain.
He almost certainly had an embolic stroke because he had atrial fib and clots form in atria during chronic fibrillation. By his own admission, he did not take prescribed anticoagulants, which might have prevented this. The clot moved and went to his brain where it blocked blood vessels. He was extremely lucky it was not worse. My brother-in-law had a similar stroke 20 years ago. He was never the same. He just died recently.
"When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer 'Present' or 'Not guilty.'"
~Theodore Roosevelt
What's with the NE sending us people with neurological episodes. Biden had had 2 brain surgeries and now Fetterman. Watching them in action proves that anatomy is destiny.
I heard that the big ole boy was running for Governor.
PA makes it difficult to get Precinct level data for elections, you apparently have to go to each county individually
I went to Allegheny County, and pulled their data
Trump won the State by 0.7%
Pat Tomey won the Senate race by 1.5%
I went to each precinct. First I found all precincts where Trump got move votes than Tomey, subtracted Tomey's votes from Trump's, and added them up.
Trump got 11,745 votes that way, 2.2% of his total votes in that county.
Then I did the same, put for Tomey. He got 16,127 votes that way, 3% of his total votes from the county
It's the people who do not vote Party line that decide the elections in States like PA
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